Remember??

Remember three years ago when I first met you and you were terrified of flying because you had never flown before??

Remember when you held Fudge's hand so tight and got so panicky I could hear you from two rows up front??

Remember when we landed and looked around to find that there were only four of our kind??

Remember when we thought we would starve during our three weeks in Surin and Bangkok because you thought we wouldn't have halal food to eat but then I brought one suitcase full of foodstuff that it was quickly dubbed the Mini Mama Shop??

Remember when you guys found a gigantuan gecko lounging on your door the first night we arrived and we had a dead frog in our toilet that Darius had to remove for us??

Remember that the dead frog was what prompted me to never ever step into that toilet, thus preventing me from doing big business for nine days??

Remember the very first time I went, I had you accompany me to Miss Irene's airconditioned bunk just so I could deposit my things and leave with satisfaction??

Remember that Miss Irene's bunk was the only place I could do my business??

Remember nobody wanted to venture into Miss Kat's bunk because we all sensed she was anal??

Remember how our backs nearly broke after working the rice paddy fields and almost destroyed what the villagers had toiled hard for??

Remember when during meal times, the four of us would sit miserably together away from the rest and could eat nothing but fish and vegetables??

Remember when we'd look longingly at the plates of chicken or SOMETHING and wished endlessly that there was good halal food available besides halal assorted-flavored milk and halal Roti Kok??

Remember how each morning we'd have rice porridge with only eggs and for three weeks it was just rice, rice, rice??

Remember how we took so little of rice and hightailed it back to our dorms where we would raid the Mini Mama Shop for a late night supper??

Remember how slow the day passed even as we were having a blast??

Remember when we joined all the Thai teachers for a crash course session and became fast friends despite having one Chikopek teacher in the group??

Remember the hot pink bus that was our mode of transport for the whole of three weeks??

Remember that because of its color and temperament, we dubbed it The Magic School Bus??

Remember how Mam was so kind to us & how we gave her bearhugs??

Remember how excited we were when all the kids came to us eager to learn English??

Remember how we fell in love with every one of them with each passing day??

Remember how we had to wear our names translated in Thai and our groups around our necks like humongous dog tags??

Remember how I fell sick during one of the days teaching the kids and had to stay in the whole day??

Remember when Miss Kat took the liberty of sponging me down even though I said I was fine??

Remember when you came into my room and offered to give me a vigorous massage despite my countless declines??

Remember how our hearts constricted after looking at the kids' sleeping conditions??

Remember when we played drinking games in the guys' room until I fell asleep on Benson's bed while the rest of you continued the silly games??

Remember we all had to go to the bathroom so many times because of the amount of water we consumed??

Remember when I ran amok with Darius's shaver and tried to shave the guys' hairy legs so they'd know what smooth and silky felt like??

Remember when Jonathan finally caught me and it took six of you to pin me down to the bed so he could shave a spot at the back of my head?? I nearly cried.

Remember the last night of our course with the kids where they gave out yellow bands of cloth to tie around our wrists??

Remember that when a kid gave you a paper crane, it was like a precious gem??

Remember when we could finally communicate with the kids and they had to leave?? I cried then.

Remember how we refused to let go of the kids and vice versa when it was time for them to leave??

Remember how we thought we wouldn't stop crying because we missed them so damned much??

Remember that as we were bawling our eyes out, Ade whipped out the camera and pestered us to do an interview that was to be recorded into our VCD and we looked horrible??

Remember that we vowed that we would one day return, God willing??

Remember how we'd play volleyball each and every evening without fail and when the kids were around, they'd join us for a game or two??

Remember how quiet it became after the kids left??

Remember how you guys were crushing on the Thai provision shop-owner's cute son and was disappointed to learn that he was leaving for university shortly after our arrival??

Remember how we'd sing the Elephant Song in Thai and point to you as we'd burst into fits of laughter??

Remember when we'd constantly pretend to be Paris and Nicole and only we'd get the jokes while others looked on in silent amusement??

Remember when we visited the other schools on The Magic School Bus and received roses as tokens of appreciation??

Remember how I ran to you crying because one of my youngest students had a huge ugly scar that ran from the tip of her elbow to her wrist??

Remember how all the kids were fascinated by the technology that was the digital camera and the filming camera??

Remember how little Chelsea refused to be carried by anyone else even when we sang Chelsea, Chelsea despite the fact that we hated the team??

Remember how I brought my Thai language kit with me wherever I went and used it not to communicate but to ruthlessly haggle bazaar stall-keepers until they nearly burst into tears just so I could get to purchase cool Thai-made clothes for myself?? Thaw rai??

Remember that you pleaded with me endlessly to stop torturing those poor souls??

Remember when we were all so excited about the picnic by the lake but then became subdued because there was not much that we could eat except for fried grasshoppers some other fried insects here and there and resolved ourselves to catching up on sleep??

Remember the last day we were in Surin and we cried because God knew when we were going to see everyone again??

Remember the exact words we uttered the moment we stepped out of the train in Bangkok??

Remember when the tour guide tried his hardest to make us pay attention to his history lesson that day but we were just too shagged to listen??

Remember how the Orchid Hotel's food tasted suspiciously like that of Singapore's??

Remember how we had that crazed shopaholic look in our eyes as we let loose in Chatuchak??

Remember how we were the only ones who were carrying more than two big red plastic bags??

Remember that we hadn't lost any of that crazed shopaholicism when we hit MBK at night and were the last ones to fall in?? Again.

Remember how we spiced things up in the bus and crooned to Usher and Alicia Keys as we punctuated each word with an action??

Remember how OLC was our number one all-around cool guy who talked incessant rubbish??

Remember when you, me and Rachie-boo called Fudge Miss Skanky-Pants because she wore yellow checkered trousers??

Remember how Rach called me Miss Boobsie and I called her Miss Flatsie??

Remember I crashed in the room you shared with Fudge one night and woke up only to find myself locked out so I shared that sorry excuse for a bed with you?? Boy, that was a tight fit.

Remember the last few days of our stay, we wished that we could've stayed longer??

Remember when we got home we made a pact to keep in touch and never hesitate to acknowledge each other in school??

Remember one of the times when I finally saw you after a really long time and as we crashed into each other in a fierce hug, I broke the string of you necklace and all the beads came tumbling down??

And after all this while when we finally met again that Saturday night, suddenly all the memories of all of us came flooding back and how our infectious lunaticism had kept things bearable in Thailand and in the end, everyone turned loco. Good times.

Laterz...
Lenny